Rumeysa Ozturk, a 30-year-old Turkish doctoral candidate at Boston’s Tufts University who was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement back in March, returned to Massachusetts on Saturday after a judge ordered she be released.
Ozturk was expected to speak at Boston Logan International Airport Saturday evening with Sen. Ed Markey and Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley.
Watch Rumeysa Ozturk speak live by clicking on the video player above.
“It’s a victory for Rumeysa. It’s a victory for justice. It’s a victory for our democracy,” Markey said at the presser. “Let us not be fooled into thinking that we are different from Rumeysa. That what she has had to endure could never happen to any of the rest of us. Her rights to due process and free speech are everyone’s rights.”
“You are someone who is ultimately going to help our country understand what we stand for,” Markey said.
Pressley got choked up while welcoming Ozturk home.
“We never forgot about you. We will not rest until you are fully exonerated. Your visa is restored, and you are free to continue your studies and your service to our community,” Pressley said.
A federal judge in Vermont ordered Ozturk to be freed on bail during a hearing Friday. Ozturk joined the hearing remotely from Louisiana, where she was being detained. She was released later that afternoon after six weeks in the detention center.
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“Thank you so much for all the support and love,” she told reporters moments after her release.
Rumesya Ozturk released after six weeks
During the Friday hearing, Ozturk and her lawyers argued that her due process and First Amendment rights were violated when she was taken into custody by plainclothes ICE officers in March.
U.S. District Judge William Sessions presided over the case and said that the Trump administration had not provided any evidence for her detainment besides an op-ed she co-authored in the Tufts student newspaper last year. The op-ed centered Israel’s war with Hamas.
The Trump administration has said that piece was the main reason her student visa was revoked.
During the hearing, one of her attorneys said that allowing her to remain in custody proves that “you can be detained thousands of miles from your home for more than six weeks for writing a single news article.”
Ozturk does not have a criminal record, and there is no record of her engaging or encouraging violence, Sessions said.
“There is no evidence here as to the motivation, absent the consideration of the op-ed,” Sessions said in court. “Very significant, substantial claim that the op-ed — that is, that the expression of one’s opinion as ordinarily protected by the First Amendment — formed the basis of this particular detention.”
Ozturk’s lawyers emphasized that her asthma has worsened while in detention and that she would suffer “significant health risks” if she remained there. She said that she had experienced 12 asthma attacks since she was put into the detention center, each worsening in length and intensity during her stay. She suffered an asthma attack during the hearing and had to be excused for 10 minutes.
The Trump administration had until May 14 to comply with a court order to transfer Ozturk to Vermont. She is due in court in Vermont on May 22, where the judge will weigh the standing of Ozturk’s challenge to her confinement.
Support for Ozturk
Leaders in Massachusetts celebrated Friday’s ruling, including Democratic Gov. Maura Healey.
“This court order confirms what we already knew – Rumeysa Ozturk’s detention was never about public safety,” Healey said in a statement. “It was part of the Trump Administration’s campaign to silence those who disagree with them.”
“She can come home, she comes back to her community,” Jessie Rossman, ACLU of Massachusetts’ legal director, said.
A Tufts University spokesperson said they hope she would be able to rejoin them as soon as possible.
“[The school is] pleased that the court has approved Rumeysa’s request to be released on bail, and we look forward to welcoming her back to campus to resume her doctoral studies.”
Tufts University President Sunil Kumar has been outspoken in his support of Oztur and her release. The community in and around the university has rallied for Ozturk, and countless protests have been held following her detainment.
Details about how Ozturk was detained
Ozturk was detained on a Somerville sidewalk by masked plainclothes ICE officers on March 25. She was on her way to the Tufts interfaith center to break her Ramadan fast at an iftar dinner with her friends.
Surveillance video of her arrest was released online. A neighbor can be heard asking, “Is this a kidnapping?” in the video.
In a court filing from the beginning of April, Ozturk said she feared for her life when she was taken into custody.
“I felt very scared and concerned as the men surrounded me and grabbed my phone from me,” Ozturk said in the statement. “But I didn’t think they were the police because I had never seen police approach and take someone away like this,”
She said that she felt “sure they were going to kill me” and denied her requests to speak with a lawyer.
Shortly after she was taken, a Massachusetts judge ordered ICE to keep her in the state, but by that point, she had been transferred to Vermont and was flown to Basile, Louisiana, later.
Melissa Quinn and
contributed to this report.
